Customer Satisfaction: A South African Case

Abstract

Customer satisfaction is one of the most important variables when applying the ISO 9000 quality management system. Customer satisfaction forms the basis of quality improvement initiatives and therefore needs to be measured through its dimensions and specifications. For these reasons it is vital for the organisation to develop a plan of action to address and improve customer satisfaction on a continuous basis. The primary objective of this research was to assimilate characteristics that would improve quality and customer satisfaction on an automotive seat cover production line. “Sewing”, the organisation is currently experiencing difficulties with regards to the quality of its products. The current high level of customer complaints as well as internal data related to scrap, rework, and quality issues indicate that product quality is a major contributor to this dissatisfaction. The investigation applied the qualitative research methodology using a case-study as the primary instrument for data collection.